The problematic co-location proposals by the Beacon Group at CUH have been well documented in Ireland. In June they emerged from An Bord Pleanala with an approval only to find that during the year the project was delayed, the investment market has changed drastically and what they are now facing is very a different situation than before, with funding now much harder to raise.

The Beacon Group stated publicly on the front page of the Cork Echo on 18^thJune that, whereas before they could have got funding from three banks, now they are having to approach eight. Not a nice situation to be in especially during a recession, but it is symptomatic of how much the business sector can change whilst they are stuck in protracted delays caused at An Bord Pleanalla.

Another very high profile project that has run into problems this week are the proposals by O’Callaghan Properties  for a private hospital on Western Road, Cork City, which is now the subject of multiple appeals to An Bord Pleanalla. This project has been very highly publicised despite not have planning permission, with Owen Callaghan himself appearing on Newstalk’s ‘Down To Business’.  In my eyes this is always a dangerous strategy in which clients are setting themselves up for a fall until their projects have passed the appeals process, which is why I advised my clients Sheehan Medical not to announce their proposals until they had a project with full planning and were sure that it was definitely going ahead.

The O’Callaghan’s proposals want to redevelop a residential site where they already have planning permission for apartments although this was not without its problems and itself went to An Bord Pleanalla where the size was drastically reduced in order to protect St Finbarre’s Cathedral. The hospital proposals went way past this protected view and were only marginally reduced when the City Council granted permission.  This now means that another private hospital is bogged down for year at An Bord Pleanala and possibly faces refusal as it contrary to the residential zoning of the site and the surrounding area, and it severely harms the views and setting of the Cathedral.

As a former planning consultant, abeit not for the past ten years, I am only too aware of the ups and downs of property development. In Ireland the system is particularly problematic because any third party can appeal a planning approval. This means anyone anywhere in the country can appeal against any planning application as long as they objected to it during the application consultation period. This system is open to widespread abuse with serial objectors looking to hold developers to ransom in return for withdrawing their objections or appeal.

Sometimes though the system allows those with genuine concerns to make their feelings known and helps keep an eye on powerful developers who find it all too easy to get their developments approved by the local councils. This all leads to a very uncertain planning process. What makes the problem worse is that An Bord Pleanalla currently takes ten to twelve months to come to a decision on appeals, this is especially problematic in the current market when developers are looking for investment because things change rapidly and to have to suffer uncertainty for a year whilst in appeal means developers have to go back to the drawing board when fundraising as Beacon now are now finding out.

I have seen this first hand since acting on behalf of Sheehan Medical (the Chairman was the founder of the Blackrock Clinic and Galway Clinic). When I was brought on board to handle their PR they had already been embroiled in a development site in Bishopstown Cork that was at appeal. The appeal delayed the project by two years and added millions of euros to their costs. I advised them to re-structure their approach to obtaining a site and only go for sites that had planning permission, thus taking away a planning risk. This led us to finding the City Gate business park in Mahon, which was fully built with full planning permission for a private hospital. Bingo! The deal was announced in June http://www.republicpr.ie/?p=45 and gained wide national publicity in broadcast media and press. The simplicity of project i.e. fully built with full planning permission meant that all was needed the fit out of the building allowing us to announce the opening of the hospital on 19th April next year only ten months after the deal was announced.

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John Cleary Developments Signs Landmark Deal at City Gate Creating 675 jobs

Irish private hospital operator, Sheehan Medical, has today announced that they are to open a new €90 million private hospital in Cork next spring. It will be the first new private hospital facility to open in the city for 30 years.

The deal has been signed with John Cleary Developments to be the anchor tenant in their new City Gate development in Mahon.

The new Cork Medical Centre will provide a huge boost to the local economy creating 150 new jobs during fit out, 350 new positions to run the hospital, which will also have 75 doctors on site with 100 ancillary staff.

This state of the art facility will use the latest technology and surgical techniques, combined with best practice from their successful facilities in Dublin, Galway and Chicago. It has the capacity to offer over 39,000 patient treatments per year.

The 135,000 sq ft building is already constructed and has full planning permission for use as a private hospital. Fit out on the Cork Medical Centre has already begun and it is scheduled to open on the 19^th April 2010.

The Cork Medical Centre will be a 5 star facility providing 75 single in-patient bedrooms, fully sealed with the latest in infection control.  The main focus of the hospital will be surgery; there will be four operating theatres and a same day surgery centre with 20 out-patient beds.

The hospital will also house an intensive care unit; radiology facilities with MRI / CT / X-ray scanners; a cardiology and neuroscience facility. It will be fitted with next generation IT systems, which is a particular speciality of Sheehan Medical. International accreditation, benchmarking and auditing will be provided by an internationally renowned healthcare organisation.

As with their associated clinics at Blackrock Dublin and Galway a community focus will be key to the success of the hospital, which will be available to the majority of private health plans.

Expansion of the facilities is already being planned with Sheehan Medical looking for partners to operatespecialist treatment centres dedicated to cancer care, renal dialysis, physical rehabilitation and bio-engineering.

Dr Joseph Sheehan, Chairman of Sheehan Medical, said: ‘‘We have been planning a new hospital in Cork for several years so the Cork Medical Centre marks the satisfactory end of a long process for us. We bring with us the high standards of treatment that we provide in our Blackrock and Galway Clinics combined with the latest technology and practices from the US. Demand for surgery is very high locally so a new first class hospital is long overdue. Meeting this important demand for the people of Cork will be our main priority.”

John Cleary of John Cleary Developments, said: “This investment by Sheehan Medical is a major milestone in the development of Munster’s leading medical campus here at City Gate. Sheehan Medical is in our opinion the optimum operator for this new hospital and will bring cutting edge technology and world class care.  Their decision to establish a major new facility here is not only a vote of confidence in Cork but for the Mahon area in particular. We have already begun the process of appointing specialist Sub-Contractors and work on the fit-out of the hospital has commenced.  The hospital will be handed over to Sheehan Medical in February next year for commissioning in time for the opening on the 19^th April 2010.”

John Cleary Developments last week received planning permission for an additional 35,000 sq ft of out-patient and ambulatory medical floorspace in an adjacent building at City Gate.

This first class development is now emerging as an important medical hub for Cork. The Cork Medical Centre is complemented on site by VHI Swiftcare, the largest urgent care clinic in Ireland, which will refer patients to the new hospital. It is also home to the national headquarters of the Health Information & Quality Authority.

City Gate is strategically located next to Mahon Point Shopping Centre close to Cork’s South Ring. In total the €140m development provides 330,000 sq ft of high quality floorspace with 900 underground car parking spaces.

Sheehan Medical is being assisted by Merkava Healthcare Consulting, run by John Looney a former executive director for VHI, and Mount Street Corporate Finance based in Dublin.

For further information please contact: Simon Palmer, at Republic on + 353 (0) 851 341 761 or email: simon@republicpr.ie

NOTES TO EDITORS

Background to Sheehan Medical

Sheehan Medical was set up to operate private hospitals in the UK, Britain and mainland Europe. The company is operated by Chief Executive, James Sheehan, and his father Dr Joseph Sheehan C.M., who is Chairman.

Sheehan Medical’s aim is to bring best practice in US medical techniques and standards to Ireland. The company prides itself in combining the operation of first class medical facilities with a successful business model. The unique share holding structure allows doctors and consultants to buy into the ownership of their hospitals and share in the financial success.

Chairman, Dr Joseph Sheehan, along with his brother Dr Jimmy Sheehan, both Dublin natives, were two of the founders of the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin, which opened in 1984. In January 2006, he was part of a small group that purchased the controlling interest in the Blackrock Clinic from BUPA. An €80m expansion project is currently underway.

In 2004 he again partnered with his brother Jimmy to open the Galway Clinic, which received international recognition and re-established Dr. Sheehan’s commitment to raising healthcare standards through dedication to quality improvement and technological advances.

An active surgeon for over 35 years, Dr. Sheehan was the Chairman of Orthopedics at Central Dupage Hospital from 2004- 2006 , which he led to be recognised as one of the top 50 Orthopaedics Departments in the US for 2007 and 2008 (US News and World Report). During his tenure the hospital implemented the most cutting – edge medical treatments in the world, including the Interventional Radiology Stroke Department and the Proton Treatment Cancer Centre (one of only 7 in the world for treating patients)

He is now an Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Loyala University Medical School in Ilinois, USA. Joseph is also currently in private practice in Chicago where he performs general orthopaedics and specialises in joint replacement and reconstruction.

Chief Executive, James Sheehan, specialises in the administration of medical care from the science to the management side. A native of Chicago he moved to Ireland in 2002 to step into his father’s role as project manager and co-developer of the Galway Clinic (that had started in 2001) in addition to taking over his role as Director of the Blackrock Clinic.

Following his time at the Galway Clinic, he started the development of three private medical centres: Cork, Ireland; Lisbon, Portugal; and Glasgow, Scotland. He remains a director of the Blackrock Clinic and Galway Clinic.

Background to John Cleary Developments

John Cleary Developments is a privately owned property development and investment company specialising in the construction of office, retail, medical and light industrial property, primarily in Cork, for the past 20 years.  The low profile firm are one of the biggest business park developers in the south of Ireland, to date completing over 785,000 square feet of quality business park space in Cork, creating successful working environments for over 1500 people.

Comprising of over 135,000 square feet the Sheehan Medical deal represents one of the largest commercial transactions ever negotiated in the Cork market.

The €140m City Gate Development comprising of a total of over 330,000 square feet and has 900 underground car parking spaces making it the largest new commercial development in Cork.  Located adjoining Mahon Point Shopping Centre, on the South Ring Road Network the new Cork Medical Centre will be extremely accessible for patients.  Designed around a central plaza, incorporating a Cafe and attractive civic space, City Gate has set a new standard for commercial developments in Cork.

As well as having the largest VHI Swiftcare Clinic in Ireland, JCD have now leased over 100,000 square feet of office space at City Gate.  The scale of these lettings is unprecedented in Cork given the current market conditions.

An additional 35,000 sq. ft has recently received a change of use planning permission to outpatient medical uses.  A large portion of this space is currently under negotiation.  A limited amount of available space remains presenting excellent opportunities for other complementary medical facilities to be part of Munster’s leading medical campus.

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